Aames Closing Offices, Paring Down Staff

Aames Investment Corp., Los Angeles, said it is in the process of closing two of its wholesale centers, as well as eliminating 100 positions from that channel of business.The two centers closing are located in Deerfield, Fla., and Parsippany, N.J. A. Jay Meyerson, chairman and chief executive, said the operations conducted at those locations will be shifted to three other locations: Irvine, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Dallas. "We estimate that the combined annual savings from these initial actions will be $10 million. We have identified additional cost reductions in operating expenses of approximately $10 million, which we plan on eliminating within the next four months," he said. Aames will incur a first quarter charge of $2.0 million as a result of these changes. The company announced these changes as part of its fourth quarter 2005 earnings statement and as a follow-up to last week's announcement it was shifting back to a "C" Corp structure from being a real estate investment trust.